Whodunnit? That is the question.
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That islands are nearly flat and any troops there will be a perfect targets. Trenches could not be made because there is ground water a meter below surface, not even talking about swamped islands. I perfectyl know that area, I was on every island personally in 80-s, and AFAIK Ukraine didn't do anything to rise and develop swampy islands, even the settlements didn't change a lot, if google/yandex satellite maps do not lie. It will be just suicidal to place troops on that islands.
As for the dam blow Ukrainian commanders have that plans earlier - https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/29/ukraine-offensive-kharkiv-kherson-donetsk/
But it seems (as by locals reports) that this time there was no any explosions or strikes, at least from artillery or MLRS, and gates damaged by earlier Ukrainian strikes that Kovalchuk told about just broke finally and rapid water flow destroyed other gates.
Accidental and ironic.
The Russian villages then were in the integrated Kherson oblast. After Kherson withdrawal, all territory West of the river and the Islands in it, were claimed by Ukraine. Russia retreated geographically to the East of the river. Yes while it was in Russian hands, I also did read the report of purported Ukrainian strikes on the dam, last year prior to withdrawal. As previously past conversation, a factor in withdrawal of Kherson, it among plenty of reasoning from the low ground that is unfavourable to artillery, and supporting an attacked city in Winter subjected to greater supply lines and outages, plus tactically Russia can return fire on a hostile city, where the Ukrainian forward line pressed, and your aforementioned bridge subjected to constant Ukrainian strikes until changing hands, now viceversa. It was blown up on Russian retreat of Kherson?
But sadly you won't change my opinion that it is an advantage. Does it prove it was accidental or deliberate? I can only find irony.
However there are questions of how the water level is affected upstream? If the reservoir drains, is it easier to cross upstream as water rushes downstream. Perhaps this could become contentious. Again it is hardly significant because river crossing would be subjected to the same historic status, unless it dropped well below the average tables?
And in every event the battlefield adjusts, reshaping. Forced to change tactics, and reposition in light of the new geography that won't be dammed again in conflict.
Yes, it was. It was already unuseable during retreat and there was no time to fix it so we use pontones to withdraw, then blow the bridge completely to completely cut the way for offence of the enemy.
Locals from Kakhovka down the dum tell that water level already lowering, so no any significant changes of water level higher than dum awaited if something else did not broke. Total level fall is near 2.5 meters for now, but reservouir have steep banks, so width stays hearly the same.
In usual war. This war is in no way usual.
Hang on. The river's closest points are at Kherson oblast. The widest points are further upstream. It snakes around going out to sea, and had been dammed. I think there might be some in Donetsk as well. I don't know enough about its channels, run offs, and outflows.
Water levels lowering where. Water doesn't lower in a flood. It has increased. It doesn't change because the geography has changed. The river has changed. Yes it will drop slightly as it runs into floodplains and estuaries expanding. But the water level has risen. The dam has burst. The reservoir, is one of the largest in the World, and it will drop to a point below dammed, but likely not significant enough to drive vehicles across. Those points were in few places, and they weren't the main waterways, bridged? Now however the river has expanded.
Upstream is dammed. This is where there might possibly be Ukrainian meddling, by releasing dams and allowing more water downstream. However the river is at its widest, much of upstream, and there are still many active bridges crossing it regardless the further North.
Right after the dam. In Novaya Kakhovka that was flooded first. That means level in reservouir above dum fall to the level where destruction of gates not so severe, so the stream become smaller. It also means that level in reservouir above dam will not continue to fall at an initial rate just after gates destruction.
The flood moving toward Golaya Pristan where flooding began recently.